The Golf Thread

[social]

The Dubai thing was odd. I have no idea who Ken Weyand is, but he finished +53, which was exactly 72 shots behind Fleetwood. How did he get in the field? There was a similar character in Hawaii too, he was saved further embarrassment by the cut having shot 88 on Day 1.

Quite how McIlroy didn't win this is beyond me. A 7 on a par 3 on Friday, a 3 putt from 2 feet plus an iron off the tee into water yesterday, yet he still found himself 1 shot ahead going down the last. Cue a snap hook into more water and with Tommy birdieing it, he just had to laugh. He actually played some brilliant golf on the back 9, would've been 6 under going down the last if he'd holed that 2 footer instead of smashing it 5 feet past and missing the one coming back.

Apparently the GM of Michael Jordan’s golf course

Maybe Jordan turned up or he introduced the Sheikh to him and this was payback

The whole thing was a bit strange

I lived on that golf course for years and it’s not in the top 5 in Dubai and there’s a far better one a couple of minutes up the road

Brilliant spot but average course

Anyway, I watched the final round and thoroughly enjoyed it

Rory played some brilliant stuff but threw it away

Incredible ball striker but he seems to have lost his way a bit

 

[Molehill]

Apparently the GM of Michael Jordan’s golf course

Maybe Jordan turned up or he introduced the Sheikh to him and this was payback

The whole thing was a bit strange

I lived on that golf course for years and it’s not in the top 5 in Dubai and there’s a far better one a couple of minutes up the road

Brilliant spot but average course

Anyway, I watched the final round and thoroughly enjoyed it

Rory played some brilliant stuff but threw it away

Incredible ball striker but he seems to have lost his way a bit

As he said afterwards, for a first run out of the season, it wasn't bad, and if he hadn't hit 3 stupid shots he could've won it by about 6.

Yeah, hadn't seen that course before, was a bit quirky. Not a big fan of infinity par 3's. The more renowned Emirates this week where Rory does have a stupidly good record.

 

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2 incredible stats from this week’s PGAT event

An amateur won for the first time in history

Cut was at -13

Must have been playing on a pitch & putt course

 

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Also Rory won again Dubai

Scrambled really well whereas the others simply didn’t

 

[grecian]

I was On Bezuidenhout, bloody amateurs.

 

[Molehill]

2 incredible stats from this week’s PGAT event

An amateur won for the first time in history

Cut was at -13

Must have been playing on a pitch & putt course

Nah, he was the first amateur to win for 32 years. The last was a certain Phil Mickelson. There's been about 10 do it in history, Verplank was another in the 80's.

The tournament is a pro-am event for the first 3 days (much like the St Andrews Links comp in October). So the courses (there's 3 of them) are set up easier to allow the ams to play. They often use 2 or 3 courses at this time of year due to less daylight available for normal number of entries. Also, it was a 3 day cut not 2 so allowing an extra day of a birdie fest.

But Dunlap is clearly a future star. His amateur and junior record matches up closely with Tiger. He hit one bad shot into the water on 7 for double, but got it out of his head and he was the one who stayed cool on the back 9. He hit some laser irons, unlucky to hit the flag on 15 when he'd have been left with a tap in otherwise. It was surprisingly Burns who choked on the last 2. Question will be whether Dunlap completes his college career or turns pro.

Rory's such a funny one. Leads the whole way last week and can't get the job done. This week comes from 10 down on the weekend, his Saturday round was a thing of beauty, 4 shots better than anyone else managed. Cam Young is a bit of a choker mind.

 

[Anil]

The LPGA contest between Ko and Korda was riveting...good victory for Nelly and great start to the season for Lydia so far with a win and a 2nd place...

 

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Hatton & Meronk apparently going to play in LIV from Friday

 

[Molehill]

No great surprise there. Meronk was always likely to head off as soon as he missed out on the Ryder Cup team. Hatton has won $22m on the PGA Tour from 150 starts, now he gets offered £60m by LIV. As an avid Liverpool fan from Buckinghamshire, loyalty was never likely to be high on his scorecard.

As an honest, straight talker, It'll be interesting to see if he says he's just gone for the money. If he doesn't, then we know that they're all being gagged.

 

[Anil]

Yeah, would have expected Hatton to defect long ago...

 

[Anil]

What does this mean for the PGA tour, the ongoing negotiations with PIF and golf in general?

 

[social]

What does this mean for the PGA tour, the ongoing negotiations with PIF and golf in general?

So PGA Tour players will get richer while all other tours are on their own

Situation normal

 

[Molehill]

So PGA Tour players will get richer while all other tours are on their own

Situation normal

Yeah, I'm kind of past the point of caring now, I just want to watch some golf.

Looking forward to Pebble later today. I've walked round it 3 times but never played it, just one of the most stunning courses in the world (well the seaside holes are anyway).

There was video yesterday of Finau hitting driver on the short par 3 7th into a ridiculous headwind and just getting it onto the green. Looks like the weather on Sunday (if they send them out in it) could be similar.

 

[grecian]

In bleeding obvious news Aberg is honestly ****ing incredible, gotta be a multiple slam einner and number 1.

Mind you nothing is inevitable, I remember Mannasero looking like the next big thing, he went through a huge trough after his lightning start to his career, but was on the euro champions tour the last few years, he's come back a tad and I was interesting to watch him again this morning, now I don't know if this was atypical but he was still incredible tee-to-green, but honestly I reckon I could putt better than him, it was ****ing dire.

 

[Molehill]

A shame we never got the final round in Pebble, but if ever someone deserved to win it, Clark's 60 was astonishing and he had a chance for 59 too.

Would've been great to see them battling the weather, but sounds like it just got too dangerous and the course isn't even playable now.

In bleeding obvious news Aberg is honestly ****ing incredible, gotta be a multiple slam einner and number 1.

Mind you nothing is inevitable, I remember Mannasero looking like the next big thing, he went through a huge trough after his lightning start to his career, but was on the euro champions tour the last few years, he's come back a tad and I was interesting to watch him again this morning, now I don't know if this was atypical but he was still incredible tee-to-green, but honestly I reckon I could putt better than him, it was ****ing dire.

Aberg is clearly far superior to Mannasero, the fact he came through the College System as top dog sums up where he's heading to. It really wouldn't be a huge surprise if he actually won the Masters first up, that course is going to suit him down to the ground.

 

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World golf rankings really are a joke

Dustin Johnson is officially ranked 218th, Niemann can’t qualify for majors, etc but problems aren’t confined to LIV

Adam Scott had 5 top 7 finishes in a row on Australian & DP World Tour & somehow dropped 10 spots but thankfully finished 20th at Pebble in a weakened field to boost his standing

It’s obvious that the rankings are weighted far too heavily towards the PGA Tour and the anomalies are only going to increase unless something is done about it

 

[grecian]

A shame we never got the final round in Pebble, but if ever someone deserved to win it, Clark's 60 was astonishing and he had a chance for 59 too.

Would've been great to see them battling the weather, but sounds like it just got too dangerous and the course isn't even playable now.



Aberg is clearly far superior to Mannasero, the fact he came through the College System as top dog sums up where he's heading to. It really wouldn't be a huge surprise if he actually won the Masters first up, that course is going to suit him down to the ground.

Well he is now clearly, but when Mateo was in is teens I don't think I was the only one to have great expectations.

 

[social]

From memory, Matteo was your classic shooting star who had a couple of really good years followed by a decade of being poor to below average

I keep an eye out for Kristoffer Broberg whose career has followed a similar pattern albeit with a few more highs in between

He’s been as high as 60 in the world, is now 667 and has just secured his Asian Tour card

Lots of really talented golfers out there but few consistent ones

 

[grecian]

From memory, Matteo was your classic shooting star who had a couple of really good years followed by a decade of being poor to below average

I keep an eye out for Kristoffer Broberg whose career has followed a similar pattern albeit with a few more highs in between

He’s been as high as 60 in the world, is now 667 and has just secured his Asian Tour card

Lots of really talented golfers out there but few consistent ones

He broke records when a teen was 25 in the World, won 3 Titles before he was 20.

Then fell off a cliff, gotta say though for a golfer he's still young, and arcs that last years is why I enjoy watching golf, he is back on Euro tour, after at one point playing the alpine tour, may get a second act,

 

[Molehill]

World golf rankings really are a joke

Dustin Johnson is officially ranked 218th, Niemann can’t qualify for majors, etc but problems aren’t confined to LIV

Adam Scott had 5 top 7 finishes in a row on Australian & DP World Tour & somehow dropped 10 spots but thankfully finished 20th at Pebble in a weakened field to boost his standing

It’s obvious that the rankings are weighted far too heavily towards the PGA Tour and the anomalies are only going to increase unless something is done about it

As a result of Pebble getting canned, it seems a lot of people tried out LIV for their golf fix. Interesting seeing some of the results...

Good: Lots of golf shots, no commercials, no pointless swing analysis.
Bad: Loud Music, lack of energy from the players, no crowd, , the on screen scoreboard. commentators spending too much time talking about the team thing no one cares about.

PGA Golf coverage is pretty dreadful, it seems like no viewer has ever been asked what they want. We want to see lots of shots, we don't want to miss important moments, we don't want interviews with the CEO of the sponsors, we don't want analysis of swings we can never achieve ourselves. There are certainly things that could be learnt from the LIV coverage.

Perhaps the saddest thing was the interview with Neimann after he won, he was all but in tears with the realisation that winning this meant nothing really as he can't play the Majors. Well fella, you took the money to play exhibition golf, you were sold a dud by Norman. Can't have it all...